Theodora Bruns

I have always viewed Dr. Weigl as one of the best composers of the old generation; one of those continuing the illustrious Viennese tradition' – Arnold Schönberg. This statement indicated that Weigl remained faithful to the late-Romantic aesthetic and use of tonality, shunning the more progressive contemporary trends being explored at the turn of the 20th century, as might be found in the music of Zemlinsky, Reznicek or Franz Schmidt. Weigl's style is well reflected in this programme that pairs the first of his six symphonies (written in 1908) with Pictures and Tales, a suite for small orchestra written in 1922.

I have always viewed Dr. Weigl as one of the best composers of the old generation; one of those continuing the illustrious Viennese tradition' – Arnold Schönberg. This statement indicated that Weigl remained faithful to the late-Romantic aesthetic and use of tonality, shunning the more progressive contemporary trends being explored at the turn of the 20th century, as might be found in the music of Zemlinsky, Reznicek or Franz Schmidt. Weigl's style is well reflected in this programme that pairs the first of his six symphonies (written in 1908) with Pictures and Tales, a suite for small orchestra written in 1922.

Josef Schelb (1894–1977) is one of the better-kept secrets of German music. His output was substantial: he lost most of his early music in a bombing raid in 1942 but, as if to make up for lost time, wrote some 150 more works after that, in the tonally liberated, quasi-Expressionist contrapuntal tradition of Hindemith and Hartmann; Bartók was an important influence, too. These three concertos show him at his most engaging: the contrapuntal craftsmanship that drives the music forward is deployed with a light and nimble touch, and passages of touching delicacy contrast with others where a lively sense of humour comes bubbling up to the surface.

Schubert set the poetry of over 115 writers to music. He selected poems from classical Greece, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from eighteenth-century German authors, early Romantics, Biedermeier poets, and Heine. The Deutsche Schubert-Lied-Edition presents all Schubert’s Lieder, over 700 songs, grouped according to the poets who inspired him. Thanks to the Bärenreiter’s Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (New Schubert Edition), Tübingen, which uses primary sources, the performers have been able to benefit from the most recent research of the editorial team.

Benjamin Bruns began his singing career as an alto soloist with the boys’ choir in his home city of Hanover. After four years of private singing lessons with Prof. Peter Sefcik, he studied at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg under the Kammersängerin Renate Behle. While still a student, he was offered a permanent contract by the Theater Bremen, a position which allowed him to build up a broadly based repertoire at an early stage. It was followed by a similar contract with the opera house in Cologne. His professional journey then took him via the Dresden State Opera to the Vienna State Opera. His repertoire contains such roles as Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Camille de Rosillon (The Merry Widow), Loge (Das Rheingold), or the Italian Tenor in the Strauss operas Capriccio and Der Rosenkavalier. Since his debut in summer 2012 he sang the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman for five seasons at the Bayreuth Festival.